Icecastleshipping
by erma200
Summary: Three years after the completion of Operation Brighton, life seems to be normal for Kate, until she runs into a former enemy. (Sorry for the bad title, I will change that later.)
1. Prologue

Prologue

Kate was barely paying attention was Professor Hastlings went on reading from Brighton Hall's could feel her eye lids starring to fall and shook her head to stay awake. Kate's partner, Pachirisu, looked up at the ranger and let out a big yawn. Kate snickered. At least she wasn't the one who was completely exhausted.

"Why don't we go meet the others downstairs?" The professor's statement brought Kate back from spacing out. Professor Hastlings was waiting for Kate at the top of the stairs. He tapped his cane on the floor impatiently.

Kate lifted Pachirisu onto her shoulder and forced herself into a run. The professor was halfway down the steps before the ranger caught up.

Once she stepped out the front door of the Altru building, it took Kate a few seconds to take in the scene before her. Professor Hastlings was walking over to join Chairperson Erma, while Wendy, Sven, and Keith were reporting in what happened to her. Rhythmi and Murph were hanging back a little, listening intently to the three top rangers as they described the mission. Farther away, Barlow and the other area rangers were arresting the Sinis Trio. Even from across the square, Kate could hear Lavanna loudly protesting about going with Luana. Heath wasn't being much better. It took both Barlow and Chopin's combined efforts to get him to cooperate. Surprisingly enough, the only one not giving any trouble was the leader of the trio, Ice. He was seated quietly on one of the benches with his arms pinned behind his back by the handcuffs. A shiver ran down Kate's spine when she noticed the blunette turn his cold gaze on her.

Kate's reflexes kicked in as a firm hand was placed on her shoulder that was not already occupied by a small electric squirrel. She whirled around to see Keith standing behind her with Buizel at his side.

"Little jumpy there, Kate?" The redhead asked in a mocking tone.

Kate gave her friend a death stare but said nothing.

"Come on," Keith said after a short pause, "Chairperson Erma wants to hear your report." The redhead took hold of Kate's arm started down the stairs. He was going faster than his friend's tired legs allowed. Kate completely missed the last step and landed on her knees.

"Sorry," Keith said quickly and helped Kate to her feet.

Kate could feel the heat on her cheeks as she go up off her knees, and really hoped that only Keith had seen that.

A smirk appeared across Ice's face when he saw Kate go down. She was just as graceful as ever.

His gaze shifted once again as one of the area rangers finally got the cuffs on Lavanna, which was probably easier than he thought. After all, the girl's biggest weapon was her mouth.

The female ranger set Lavanna on the bench next to Ice.

The admin chose not to acknowledge his teammate. Consequently, it brought his attention back to the four top rangers. Kate had apparently joined the others and was giving her report.

"Forget about her," Lavanna growled into Ice's ear. He voice was low enough that only he could hear.

"That is none of your concern." Ice's voice remained calm, despite how annoyed he was with Lavanna for bringing this up. Lucky for him, the area rangers were ready to transport them, and Lavanna didn't have a chance to continue.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The task seemed simple enough to Kate: find and capture an Umbreon that was causing trouble in the market place. The main problem with that was finding the Umbreon.

"Any ideas?" Kate asked Pachirisu. The small pokemon looked up at from his seat on the bench. The white fur around his mouth was stained a deep blue from the Oran berry he was eating.

"Pacha?" Pachirisu tilted his head to the side.

"Never mind," Kate said halfheartedly. She glanced out into the crowd, hoping to spot the moonlight pokemon. Instead, she caught a glimpse of a familiar blue coat disappearing behind a corner.

"Let's go, Pachi." The top ranger scooped up her partner and rushed into the crowd.

It wasn't too difficult for Kate to work her way through the crowd of people at first. People tend to see the ranger uniform and politely move out of the way. That was, until a blast of dark energy rippled from around the corner and into the crowd, sending everyone into a panic.

"Guess we found Umbreon," Kate said to no one in particular.

Kate found herself running into a new person every few seconds as she tried to get to the rampaging dark type and she tried to get to it.

Finally managing her way through the stampede, Kate turned the corner and found that the Umbreon had someone backed against a wall. Kate's eyes widened. She immediately recognized who it was: Ice.

Kate hadn't seen the Dim Sun admin since the completion on Operation Brighton three years ago. He looked artery much the same as he did back then. He still wore the same outfit, including that horrible white collar and his Froslass with her arms around his neck. It was impossible for Kate to read his emotions because he was so well guarded, even during his staring contest with the Umbreon.

Ice broke his gaze away from the Umbreon when he saw Kate turn the corner. A look of shock flashed across Ice's face but disappeared as quickly as it had shown up. The dark type took Ice's distraction as a chance to strike.

Before Kate was close enough to do anything, the Umbreon lunged and bit into the shoulder that Froslass had just been on. Ice gritted his teeth to keep from crying out in pain, not something he was going to do in front of Kate, and Froslass fired an ice beam to dislodge the moonlight pokemon.

"Pachi, discharge!" The small squirrel launched himself at the Umbreon and let loose an electric attack that ended up paralyzing the dark type. Unfortunately, Umbreon had the ability synchronize, so Pachirisu became paralyzed as well. Kate quickly pulled out her styler and performed the capture flawlessly.

The top ranger headed over to the two pokemon and fed them each a Cheri berry that she had in her pocket. "There you go, guys," Kate told them and Pachirisu jumped back onto her shoulder.

"Fross!" Kate turned back toward Ice when she heard his Froslass calling her. The ice/ghost type was hovering around Ice with a worried expression on her face. Ice was sitting with his back to the wall and clutching the shoulder that Umbreon had bitten.

"Are you alright?" Kate asked as she ran up to the former admin. She had no clue why she cared. After all he had put her and the other rangers through, a bite on the shoulder was just the beginning of what this guy deserved.

"I'm fine," Ice assured her as he lifted his blue gaze to meet hers. His expression remained as stone cold as ever. Ice got to his feet and started to walk away. Without turning around he called back, "thanks for the help, Kate-n00b."

Something finally dawned on Kate. "Hold it!." Kate called as she ran after him. She managed to catch up to him and grabbed him by the wrist. Ice turned back toward her. "Weren't you arrested after Operation Brighton?"

"Wow, nothing gets past you, Kate." After shoving as much sarcasm into that one sentence as he possibly could, Ice's tone become completely serious. "Yes, I was arrested if you must bring that up again, but I was released on good behavior, unlike my former comrades."

Kate thought about that for a second. It was entirely possible tat he was telling the truth, but it was just as likely that he was lying to gain her trust. "Wait, what do you mean by 'unlike my former comrades'?"

Ice chuckled. "You'll find out." He pulled his wrist free of Kate's grip and continued on his way, leaving Kate with a lot to think about.


	3. Chapter 2 Teaser

**(A/N: I am still very much alive, just haven't updated^.^' so, here's the half of chapter 2 that I have so far just to tide you guys over until I'm done with the full thing (you have Rebelgirl01 to thank for the update). Oh, I also need some help from you guys. If anyone has a good idea for a title for this story, feel free to message me. **

**BTW, I don't own pokemon or the characters (much as I wish I did...))**

"Come on, Kate!" Rhythmi shouted at her friend from across the street.

Kate sighed. This was her only day off. This week and Rhyrhmi was making her spend it dress shopping. Kate liked getting the chance to spend some time with her best friend, she just wasn't a big fan of going from store to store looking for clothes. Kate ran across the street to join Rhythmi at the small cafe on the corner.

Rhythmi had already set down her bags and was talking to a waiter by the time Kaye joined her.

The two friends sat there for at least an hour. Rhythmi continued going on about how great they would both look in their dresses. Kate, meanwhile, was quietly sipping her drink and only half listening to her friend. Ever since her encounter with Ice just a few days ago, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was constantly watching her.

"Earth to Kate!" Rhythmi's shouting snapped Kate back to reality. "You've been trying to from an empty glass for the last few minutes."

Kate look down and found that her cup was in fact empty. Apparently, she had been wrapped up in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed. "Sorry," Kate said a little embarrassed.

"You alright?" Rhythmi asked her friend, "you seem kind of out of it lately."

"I'm fine," Kate assured her, but Rhythmi didn't look like she was buying it. Kate then went on to ask if she could wonder around on her own for while. Rhythmi reluctantly agreed and left Kate to pay the bill.

Kate wondered aimlessly around the city until Umbreon, who refused to leave the ranger alone even though she had released him, guided her attention to a Froslass that was staring at her from across the street.

Umbreon bound after the Froslass and Kate gave chase to him. When Kate finally caught up, Umbreon was sitting in front of a fountain, getting his ear scratched by the same person he had attacked just a few days ago.

"There are somethings that I will never understand," Kate said mostly to herself.

"And what do you mean by that?" Ice asked in a calm voice and without lifting his gaze from the dark type.

"Well let's see," Kate started, "three days ago you two were, literally, at each other's throats, and now you're acting as though you've been friends for years. Am I missing something here?!"

A smirk appeared across Ice's face. "You underestimate my ability to win over pokemon," Ice said and showed the ranger the pokeblock case that was in his hand. He took out one of the small candies and held it out for Umbreon, who promptly devoured the small, blue cube.


End file.
